Popcorn for the Soul – Sense of Adventure

Monday, September 23, 2013

“I think because I have great difficulty saying the word, ‘no,’ almost every day is a different adventure.” – Sir Richard Branson

Dear Friends,

A couple of years ago I met Eve Branson, the mother of the famous entrepreneur and adventurer Sir Richard Branson. She struck me as an unusually fearless, amazing and intrepid woman. What a parent, I thought! What a role model!

Our parents are, of course, amongst our most important influences. Some parents really do a horrible job, filling their kids minds and hearts with trash – thus leaving their kids with a huge responsibility to re-program themselves as they grow into adults. But other parents give their kids a solid foundation for their lives. A solid sense of self-worth. A sense of being loved and lovable. A sense of adventure.

Having met Eve Branson I was of course curious about what influence she might have had on her son’s life. Imagine my delight the other day when I was channel surfing, and happened to see a brief interview with Sir Richard Branson! The reporter asked him about who the greatest influences in his life had been and he immediately answered that his mother had been so.

Like all great teachers Eve Branson taught by creating experiences. She was determined to train her son to become independent. When he was four years old she would stop the car a few miles from their house and make him find his own way home across the fields. Of course he got hopelessly lost. But he also learned to find his way eventually. And to become truly independent.

When asked about how he made decisions about new business ventures Sir Branson said that he considered them like adventures. Not thinking about the cheapest way or the fastest way of doing them, but the most amazing way. How to make it into an adventure.

And how the trick to handle risks is to protect the downside. He would ask himself, what is the worst that can happen. And if he was willing to deal with that, then he would go for it!

What an amazing attitude! Not just for business, but for life!

Adventure opens up

There are so many people who are stuck within their familiarity zones. For no good reason! And if they ventured outside them the worst that could happen is that they would get a little lost. And getting a little lost is a good thing! It is a small adventure in itself. Yeah – sure, it may not be as comfy as sitting on the sofa watching TV, but we have done enough of that!

This Sunday we were on a brief excursion in the mountains. Being ever curious and a bit inspired by Richard Branson’s way of thinking we made a sharp left turn, drove a couple of kilometers and ended up outside the gates of a factory which has been the object of our curiosity for some time. We introduced ourselves and after a brief wait and some phone calls were invited to a tour of the facilities, a sampling of the products, and a long, entertaining and interesting conversation. We also got some interesting business contacts – which just goes to show that you never know where a healthy dose of curiosity and sense of adventure may take you.

So go on, let go of the need to play it safe and be cautious…The beauty and opportunities lie in the exact opposite :-)!

Dare to be intrepid! Dare to be curious! Dare to let your sense of adventure open the doors you never knew possible!

And just to give you a kick start, may we invite you to think of all those times when you wanted to do something, try something, experience something, and were stopped in your tracks…

What have you missed, what opportunities you allowed to pass you by, who are you not sharing your days with as a result?! And if this is not enough to push you, think about the future…

Would you want it to be filled with I-regret-not-doing-this sentences, or with I am glad I did it :-)!

Come on! We dare you :-)!

Sending you oceans of love and wish you a week filled with adventures!

Thomas Björge – ITA NLP (International Trainers Academy of NLP) Accredited New Code and Classic Code NLP Trainer and Master Coach and Designer of New Code Game ‘Arrows’, to be featured in Dr. John Grinder’s upcoming book.

Sign up for exclusive free info

First Name :Last Name :Email Address :

Prijavite se na našu mail listu

First Name :Last Name :Email Address :

Testimonials

Dear Mrs. Lidija and Sir Tomas,

Reading your texts on BG Online and listening to you at the Mental Hygiene lecture, I have learned more than when I went to see few psychologists several times for over an hour each time. I am applying some of the advices that I’ve heard, and I notice small betterments because some things that I’ve buried deep inside myself as a child are starting to reemerge.